I had to get out of there.

Tears weren't rolling down my face, but anger was bursting out of my body and I had to leave.

My best friend and my fucking boyfriend.

What the fuck.

Never. Never did I think anything would ever happen between them. It wasn't even a thought in my mind. Emily... my best friend who I've known for years! And Brady who's been nothing but sweet. I didn't think he'd cheat on me. Maybe I was super naive, but I just didn't think it would happen. I didn't think that them meeting up in the library to work on their paper together was them going behind my back. I didn't think them setting in the quad working on their paper again meant they were hooking up. Even today, when I pulled up and saw his Porsche, I didn't think anything of it.

Before I get to my car, I hear my name being called.

It's Troy.

I don't ignore him because I knew he was on my side. And he wasn't there to gloat and say he knew Brady was an asshole this whole time.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"I know," I tell him, fully believing that.

He may have been the most annoying person to me at one point, but I know he'll always be there for one, always. And that involves being completely honest with me about stuff. He would have told me if he knew anything.

I know he would have.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" He asks me.

Out of here? Like where? Like he wants to grab dinner? No. I'm not in the mood for dinner. "Where?"

He shrugs, "Palm Springs."

"You want to go to Palm Springs?" I ask him, not sure if he's serious.

"I think you maybe need to clear your head," he tells me, "and being locked up in your room won't do you any favors. Come on, we should go."

I think about it for a minute. Maybe we should.

Right now, I feel anger.

But in a couple of hours, I might feel complete sadness. And I might start to just cry. And being in my room with some of his things around me, it's not good. And I maybe should get out of town because I don't want to talk to them right now. I don't want to see them. I don't want anything to do with them.

So, I don't give it a second though. I'm in. "Okay, um, I need to go home first."

"Yeah," he nods, "I'll meet you there."

Within five minutes, I was home and packing a bag for two nights. Or one night? I don't know. Two nights just in case.

My parents with to dinner with some friends so I left a note.

And then I was out of there.

I finally realized Troy and I haven't been talking for the last hour of this car ride.

He hasn't asked me any questions whatsoever.

Actually, he did. He asked if the AC was too much. But that was it. We didn't talk for the next hour or so.

Which was nice.

I was just trying to process everything. I was trying to go through everything in my mind. Why it happened, when did it happen, is it still going to happen? So many questions. And I just needed to look out the window for the last hour and think about it. And I still don't have answers. I have no idea how this all happened, why it happened or if it's still going on. I don't know. But I want to know. And then I don't. A part of me never wants to talk to Brady again and then another part of me wants to cut Emily from my life. But it's not that simple. Especially with Emily. She's my best friend.

Going through everything in my head, I should have seen the signs. I was so dumb. I was so naive to think Brady wouldn't cheat on me.

But I wasn't naive to think Emily would back stab me.

I never in a million years think this would happen. In any sense of the word.

Ever.

They were so excited that I left that party early, they were sneaking around together in the library, she was always trying to be around us. It makes sense now. It all makes complete sense and I hate myself for not paying more attention. Because I could have walked away.

Instead, it blew up in my face. And my best friend went behind my back. My boyfriend cheated on me.

Fuck this. Fuck all of this.

"I'm obviously more hurt by your sister because she's my best friend and I've known her for years. Fuck Brady. But fuck your sister, too."

"Yeah, of course," Troy tells me, surprised I'm talking.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a second wondering if this is all happening.

If it's actually happening.

And it is.

"Do you remember in the 8th grade when Jason Seller transferred to our school and Emily had the biggest crush on him? But he asked me to go to the movies with him? I so badly wanted to go with him. I thought he was so fucking cool and the cool, hot new guy asking me to the movies was so huge and so flattering and I was so giddy over it. But then I remembered about Emily's crush and I said no to him and I didn't even regret it. I wasn't mad at your sister whatsoever, I didn't resent her. It just felt like the right thing to do because she was my best friend and no boy was going to get in the way of that. Or when Sasha Pierce asked if I wanted to go to her party, but only me and not Emily because she only had one spot left on her party bus? Again, I turned it down. Not because they didn't have room for Em, but because she purposely didn't have room for Em. She wanted to rub that in her face and she wanted there to be a fight between us. And there I was thinking, no girl is going to get in between our friendship. I mean... what a fucking idiot I am."

"You're not an idiot," he tells me, "you're a great friend."

"But look at where that's gotten me... my best friend is fucking my boyfriend or who knows what the hell they're doing," I sigh, leaning back.

I'm not sure if Troy's uncomfortable because this is his sister, but I have to vent.

And I trust him.

"I'm sorry, if I had any idea..."

"Yeah, I know," I cut him off, he doesn't need to explain himself.

"You can vent all you want, though," he tells me.

I smile at him.

And then sit here for a minute and just think to myself about how awful this day has become.

"The thing is, I'm not even sad about Brady. I didn't think about breaking up with him, but I didn't think about our future. It's not like I'm losing this great love and how could they do this to me, you know? It's mostly just about respect. They don't respect me. And I expected way more from your sister."

"For sure," he nods, "I don't even know what was going on through her mind, to be honest. I think she's always been jealous of you, though."

"She's never been jealous of me."

Troy chuckles a bit, "wake up, yes, she has."

I've never... I've never felt that. "But why? I mean, there's no reason to be."

He shrugs.

But then he gives me a handful of reasons. "School comes easy to you, you work really hard, I know that, but you're also just smart. It's not as easy for her and I think she's always been envy of that. Everyone likes you. Emily? She has 'haters.' She's never been in a serious relationship, you were in one first. Jason Seller wanted you and not her. I mean, if you really think about it, I think you can figure out why. You're beautiful, but you have that kind of beauty that's just natural, that a lot of people gravitate to. In my honest opinion, I think she's jealous of you. And it doesn't make what she did fine or excuse it, but I really don't think it was so much about Brady as it was about having something you had, like she finally won."

I don't even know what the last part was because all I can concentrate on was the fact that Troy Bolton called me beautiful. A natural beauty.

My heart skipped a beat. I felt it.

And now, I'm sitting here just thinking about that.

It feels like the ultimate compliment because Troy Bolton is so beautiful.

But I bring myself back down to earth and realize that this guy is sort of like a brother. Not really. But he's been in my life long enough to be considered one and my heart cannot be skipping beats for him. No way. That's insane. Just because he called me beautiful. I've been called beautiful before.

It felt honest, though.

And that made me smile. It made me really smile, actually.

"Gabriella?"

"Oh sorry," I realize I haven't said anything, "um, well, thanks, I think, but I don't know... you think so?"

"Think what?" He asks me.

Think I'm beautiful, I want to say. But I don't.

I take a deep breath and start thinking about this whole shitty situation again. "You think she hooked up with Brady just because he was mine? And not for the fact that she likes him? I don't know, that seems really, really low."

"I don't know, I don't want to assume, but that's just my opinion. She's always been jealous of you and this was her ah ha moment."

"But there's no need to be jealous! Emily is gorgeous. And smart. And people like her just fine."

"Yeah, but she's not you."

She's not me? What does that mean?

Suddenly, I have butterflies. I don't know what he means.

But I need to find out.

"I don't know what that means," I tell him annoyed that I didn't just come out and ask him what it meant because what if he just rides it off?

"It just means she's not you," he takes his eyes off the road for a minute and gives me a small smile.

You know what, that was good enough for me.

And for the rest of the way there, we did nothing but listen to music.

And sing along.

It was just what I needed.